What Happened Today at the Monastery?

A very auspicious day at Kauai Aadheenam to begin our new phase. This morning Chidambaram Sendan and Shaila Pushpa Sendan both received the Vidyarambha samskara, the official beginning of their education.

They were all smiles as Bodhinatha handed them the plate of rice upon which to draw the letter A.

Iraivan Temple Construction Progress

It was an historic day for another reason: the last roof beam of the Iraivan temple was raised up. It never happened before and will never happen again.

The beam is to span two pillars with the jalakom lattice window in between.

Your TAKA writer today took a break from his desk and climbed up to the top. The silpis were discussing the intricacies of jointing the newly place beam. Other roof stones are sitting on top of the roof stones already placed. They will move into their stations later

The location: South East corner of Iraivan.

The stones were pre-fitted on the ground.

but final adjustments are inevitable. Everything must be perfectly plumb, perfectly aligned.

Down on the ground the crew takes the opportunity to use the crane to move crates that were offloaded from containers on the Nandi mandapam area.

Managing all the stones and incoming crates is a logistical challenge.

On Larrie’s weight meter, some of these crates holding floor stones weigh in at over 6.5 tons!

Yoginathswami was amazed on hearing this figure. “I don’t even know how I dragged them out of the containers! But I don’t want to push our fork lift, it could be dangerous, so we will let Larry do the job today.”

Loading crates on the bed of the crane truck.

Ready to move out.

Around to the north end of the temple where all the work is basically over.

Crates are placed back on the foundation, safely out of the way for now.

It was a great day at Iraivan!

Dawn at Iraivan

Dawn is a magical time all over the world. Praised by Sages in the Vedas, and daily watched in ever renewed wonderment by everyone who takes the time to just stop and watch the sunrise. Here we are, at dawn on Iraivan Day during the retreat. Yogi Jivananandanatha got up early to go out and catch the temple in the special light of the day.

Gurudeva once said: “You have realized many things. Just stop and realize what you have realized. Many people are so busy, that they don’t even take time to stop and watch the sunrise.”